Week 7
It was another fairly quiet week, but a delightful one, as well.  We went to a walk-in clinic on Monday since Kerby still had a lot of back pain.  Testing ruled out anything serious, and he got a prescription for an anti-inflammatory and instructions to rest and apply heat. (He felt great after about five more days.)  That afternoon at the institute we finished clearing out the library--tons of audio and video cassettes that are no longer needed or even usable got dumped along with many extraneous odds and ends.  Much more pleasant and usable now.

FHE was at the Bishop's home, and consisted of a crazy game where everyone brought a wrapped gift that was placed in a huge box (along with loose wrapping paper).  One person put on a coat, hat, scarf, and gloves, and tried to reach in the box, and grab and unwrap a present before the next person in the circle could roll double 2s, 4s, or 6s with the dice.  As soon as that happened, the whole outfit had to be put on the next person, who tried to get a gift, etc.  It was really fun and much harder than it sounds!

On Tuesday morning we took a walk and we saw our blue heron on the pond.  Here are a few pictures of Bennie the Blue-he's pretty spectacular in flight:

Bennie the Blue Heron

The saga of the sewer continues--suffice it to say we had floods Tuesday night, Thursday morning, and Friday (Christmas) night.  The maintenance folks are very responsive every time, but obviously whatever they have been doing hasn't been effective.  So before he even came on Saturday, the maintenance guy called in a plumber from Oklahoma City.  When the plumber got here they put a camera in the line and diagnosed roots in the pipes.  We've now got root killer in our toilet tank, and I don't know what else they did, but he said if they need to dig up and replace the pipe they will.  Sigh. But on to better things!

We went to OKC to attend the temple on Wednesday; it was an absolutely beautiful day and a beautiful session. It's nice to have a little free time and be able to do that during the break.  We ate at a fabulous Thai restaurant before returning home.

The Cleavers came up from Edmond on Thursday so we could teach them how to make PowerPoint slides, something they'd never done but wanted to learn.

Christmas morning we opened our presents to each other (two ties for Kerby and an OSU black and orange knit scarf for me) then the Sisters came over for breakfast.  Later we opened our gifts from family (thanks to all).  We've also enjoyed all the Christmas cards and letters we've received.

Sisters Liddell and Taylor

At 11:00 am we went to the Community Center to help serve the Community Christmas Dinner.  Last year they served between 700 and 800 people, and I suspect it was about the same this year  Some of the participants were clearly in need of assistance, some were probably international student families, others just lonely.  It was heartwarming to see so many volunteers helping out and it was a joy to be among them.

At the Community Christmas Dinner

We had a quiet afternoon Skyping with my sister in Croatia and visiting with the grandchildren (and their parents) via Facetime.  Pretty amazing age we live in--a lot of what we do seemed like absolute science fiction when we were young. 

In the evening, we had a Christmas get-together with our district of missionaries.  We had bought and wrapped some silly little toys for each one of them and had snacks (since they had all been at members' homes for dinner [sometimes two] during the day).  It was relaxing and fun.

Best District anywhere!  :-)

Saturday morning it started raining about 10 am, and then the rain got heavier and the winds got stronger.  It rained and blew all afternoon and through the night.  This morning the rain turned to freezing rain and snow. 

The view out our back door--Cold!

We were planning to attend the 1st ward church meetings since the YSA ward is not having meetings for two weeks.  We got a Facebook notice at about 10:15 am that the 1st ward 11 am meetings were cancelled due to the freezing rain.  The zone leaders then impounded all cars in the zone (not ours, but all the "regular" ones), so no missionaries can drive until further notice.  They take these treacherous roads seriously around here.

So, we hooked up the computer to the TV, pulled up BYUTv and watched Music and the Spoken Word live broadcast, then watched Worship Service.  This is a series of abbreviated sacrament meetings filmed about 10 years ago. (Who knew?!)  Ed Pinegar is the bishop, there is a ward choir, there are talks, a closing hymn, and a closing prayer.  The ward is an interesting group of people (the children are abnormally well behaved).  Anyway, that was church for us today.  Looking at the weather map, we're probably out of the worst of the storm, though it should be cold and snowy for a couple of days.

Just want to close with my testimony that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most precious possession there is.  What a joy to know that we are loved by our Heavenly Father and the Savior, and that we have the pattern and plan to allow us to return to their presence.